Citation

Fay AJ, Maner JK. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 2018; 147(8): 1154-1169.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Florida State University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/xge0000479

PMID

30070576

Abstract

Experiencing the tactile sensation of warmth can affect cognition and behavior across a variety of domains, including affiliation, aggression, and consumer choice. Yet few investigations have provided a theoretical rationale for when and why such effects occur. Five experiments tested the hypothesis that the tactile experience of warmth can satisfy a person's acutely active desire for social affiliation. Across 5 experiments, the tactile experience of warmth (vs. control temperatures) reduced outcomes that would otherwise be aimed at restoring a person's level of social affiliation, but this effect was observed only among people who had just been excluded (not those undergoing a control procedure) and only among people low in fear of negative evaluation-those people known to experience strongly activated affiliative motives following exclusion.

FINDINGS suggest that warmth-a sensation signaling the proximity of a close relationship partner-satisfies currently active affiliative motives. More broadly, findings provide a theoretical framework for understanding ways in which effects of sensory primes depend upon the motivational state of the perceiver. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Language: en